It's Not A Pleasant Story
by Xion the Author
Summary: Gather around the campfire, the Ice Age characters are about to tell their stories of their lives before they all met. Inspired by countless other authors. Spin-off to Two Roads, One Destination . I DO NOT ICE AGE NOR THE CHARACTERS, only my OCs. Alternate universe set after Ice Age 3.
1. Manny: The Last of My Kind

**Xion the Author: Voila! My new story! I'm gonna be writing this before I write the sequel to my first story ICE AGE: STORIES UNDER THE ICE CAP. I've been dying to try and get in-depth of the character's past lives before they meet up in the first movie (M,S,D), the second movie (El,Ed,C) the third movie (B) and my OCs (maybe except Flik, cause I haven't really thought of anything for him). Now, onwards to the story! I entitled it:**

**IT'S NOT A PLEASANT STORY**

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_**Manny: The Last of My Kind**_

"_It all happened… so quickly… too quickly…"_

"_I remembered it all too clearly. It was just like any other day. A very special day. My life now was of absolute joy and happiness, and I cherished every single moment of it. Spending each and every beautiful moment with my family. With my mate Clarissa, and my daughter Rosy. It seemed as if the entire world was revolving around me."_

_It was perfect, at least, I thought it was…_

"No peeking!"

"Okay, Dad! What is it that you want me to see?"

"It's over here deary!"

"Over-? *chuckles* Over where?! I can't see anything! Hahaha!"

"Come on! We're almost there…"

"_Me and my wife was about to show our daughter her big surprise. She had just turned nine three weeks ago, and we thought about a perfect birthday gift for her. The gift we gave for her that day was well … I guess you could say, less than stellar, so we planned this for a while now. It was hard, hiding it from her, and finding and setting it up for her without knowing us gone. But from the way she reacted, it was all worth it."_

"Voila!!!" I finally said, removing my trunk from her eyes. Rosy gasped in amazement. A little playground, complete with slides and a little pond, all for her to play in.

"Wow!!!" Rosy turned around to us. Our smile must've given the answer to her question, and left off playing around. She frolicked around in such joy.

"Oh, Manfred" said Clarissa, "Just look how happy she is."

"Yeah…" I said, feeling just about as happy as my daughter was.

"Don't be afraid to explore, honey!" Clarissa shouted. "But don't go off too far!"

She didn't really need to say that, as Rosy was running off to just about every inch of the playground. Me and Clarissa stayed there, watching her. We hugged each other, smiling at each other, wrapping around our trunks.

"_That was the very last time I got to hold her like that. .While we were too busy getting intimate, we didn't realize that Rosy was going too far off… Rosy was happily running around everywhere. Until of course, the hunters suddenly raided." _

Before we knew it, Rosy started running towards us, and behind her the humans emerged from the forest. I told Clarissa to take Rosy and run. They did while I stayed to fight the humans off. I got around maybe one or two of them, but they just kept on coming. They threw spears at me, making me try to run back, but the hunters suddenly ran in front of me. I then realized that I was cornered, and so were Clarissa and Rosy.

I saw them cornered to a mountain wall. I tried to save them, but the hunters around me pushed me back. There were hunters cornering them, but they didn't budge from their spot. It wasn't long before I found out what they were planning. There humans on top of the mountain, holding up boulders.

"NOOO!!!!" I shouted in desperation, pleading them not to. But it was no use. The humans threw the boulders down, and I watched my family get torn apart in front of my eyes.

In a fit of rage, I pushed back every human in my way. I slaughtered each and every one of them. I looked up to the mountain to see the other humans retreating. My rage started to consume me, but I calmed down, to check on Clarissa and Rosy.

The boulders absolutely crushed them. I fell apart there, on that spot, just looking at them. Rosy's lifeless body laid there, and I couldn't help but cry. I knelt and leaned my head towards hers.

"M-Manfred. . . ."

I raised my head to see Clarissa, still breathing. I tried to comfort her, telling her lies that it was going to be okay, although I knew that it was all too late.

"Manny… listen…"

I got close to her and rubbed her head with my trunk. "Clarissa…"

"Run… you…. have…. to…." and with her final breath, she said. "…Live…"

"Clarissa… Clarissa!" I shouted out her name. I cried on her lifeless body, and kissed her head. I then kissed Rosy's and left.

I ran. I didn't know what to do now. I knew that more hunters would probably come back. So I just kept on running. It wasn't long before I reached a pond. I looked at my reflection, seeing myself in such a wreck. I stopped crying. My despair was replaced by rage. Hatred was now everything left in my head.

Then I remembered, that humans would come back there, and so did I. I charged through the trees as fast as I could. I decided I was going to kill every single one of them. But by the time I reached there, it was already too late. There wasn't a single human, and they left only footprints. Clarissa's body was gone, and so was Rosy's. I approached that spot, where they died. I fell down to the ground. I ran my trunk along the dirt, and began to cry again.

Soon afterwards, I woke up. I realized I fell asleep. A bright new day… alone… My rage had somehow faded. I knew where they stayed. I knew where their camp was. But doing so felt meaningless now.

And there… I wondered… what now?

_Everyone started staring at me, sympathetically, especially Ellie. This was the first time I ever opened up to them. They couldn't help feeling sorry for me. I felt like not continuing, but I did anyways._

That day, I was a wreck. I lost all hope in my life. It wasn't long before I heard birds saying "Prepare for the Ice Age!"

"The Ice Age…" I whispered to myself. And there, I realized what to do. I wanted to die.

While everyone else was going to opposite direction, I ran towards the Ice Age. You could say I didn't feel like migrating, anymore… that is. All the other animals shouted at me. Things like _you're going the wrong way_, _crazy mammoth_, _or look out will ya'_. I tried to ignore them.

And I thought my day wasn't going to get any worse, when this jerk just suddenly came up to me. "Hey!" he said. "Do the world a favor!" I turned towards him, and glared. "Move your issues of the road!"

I replied trying to hold my anger. "If my trunk was that small, I wouldn't draw _attention_ to myself, pal."

Then he started shaking in fear. Pathetic, coming up to me, and running away anyways. "G-g-give me a break. W-we've been wobbling all day." I wanted to pummel him down to the ground, but after seeing his family, I gave up on the idea.

"Oh go ahead follow the crowd. It'll be quieter when you're gone!", I said calming my nerves down and left. And in a few minutes of walking, the crowd was all behind me, and I could see the Ice Age right in front of me. Everything was going smoothly, until of course, some bozo hit me behind my back, and the rest is history.

* * *

"Who was the bozo?" asked Sid.

"It was you, remember." Manny clarified. "You were getting chased around by some rhinos. If it hadn't been for me, you would've been killed for pleasure."

Sid shut up, and everyone else continued to stare at Manny. "What?" he said. "That was a long time ago. I hated humans to my gut, that is, until I met Pinky."

The herd was sharing stories around at night. They surrounded a nice campfire made by Sid and Buck, in which they argued at how they would make it better. Everyone was here, Buck and Barret came to visit and Flik tagged along. Diana's three cubs were here too, with Nicholas gnawing at a bone. Ryan and Nia were sitting here as well. Manny and Ellie sat near each other with Peaches between them. Crash and Eddie sat near Buck and Barret.

Manny looked back at his old family, and now looked at his new one. Manny decided he wasn't going to let anything happen to them before, thus the over-protectiveness. Ellie tried to get closer to Manny and comfort him, but Peaches seemed to be doing it all right.

"Well…" said Diego, looking at the necklace on Manny's tusk. "Who's next?"

"Ooh! Ooh! Me! My turn!" said Sid.

"All right Sid. Your turn." said Ellie.

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**Xion the Author: For those of you who can't relate to Barret, Flik, Ryan, Nia, Diana and her cubs, read my first story. If you're too lazy to read an amazing story, here's a quick summary. Barret is a white weasel, he's Buck's little brother (a complete opposite of him though). Flik is an osprey who tagged along in an adventure. Ryan and Nia are wolves, they're a couple. They came from the human territory across Glacier Pass. Diana is Diego's sister and the cubs are kids of Oscar but he's dead so Diego is taking care of them like a step-father. The kids' names are Nicholas (eldest), Rhea (second) and Oscar Jr (third).**

**Ryan: So from the quick summary itself, its better you read the story. That way you can relate even better.**

**Xion the Author: So now about the story. It was inspired by FABCHICKXO's story "Campfire Stories" (very popular, you must've come across it). My first original plan was to make a oneshot prequel of Ice Age 1 about Manny's old family. I've made a draft of it, planned to upload it after writing my first story, but I found that someone else had made that, so now the second original plan was to make an entire prequel/Ice Age 1 all in Manny's POV, but then considering the other stories made by other writers, it would make mine less original. So, I devised a devious plan to make me go IN YOUR FACE! at them without mentioning their names, by making this story! But my plan to plan this plan was somewhat evil so I just wrote the story with love and compassion (ick). Hope you enjoyed the story as well as me ***** here! XD**

**Flik: He's gone mental…**


	2. Sid: Like A Ghost

**Xion the Author: You guys have probably realized this by now, but I'm gonna mention it anyways. This story basically makes up chapters talking about the character's lives before they all met (I'm starting from the original characters and moving to my OC). I DO NOT OWN ICE AGE IN ANY WAY, NOR DO I OWN THE CHARACTERS. **

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_**Sid: Like A Ghost**_

_Well, this story took place the day before I met Manny, Pinky, Diego, the rhinos-_

_Get to the point Sid. We don't have all night._

_Okay, okay…_

_It was the day before the great Migration._ _My family was getting packed. Eating and sleeping, eating and sleeping, taking their 'load' off. So anyways, the day started out something like this._

I woke up to find everyone talking and bustling about. Everyone was picking up things and putting them in a pile.

"Don't forget the berries Zack."

"Sure thing Bernie"

"Make sure you don't poop anywhere near this tree Marshall"

"Yes Uncle Fungus"

Me, and everyone were sort-of like a family. I woke up to ask what was going on.

"Don't you remember Sid?" said Zack. "The migration is tomorrow! "

"Oh…right… right…" was all I could say.

"Yeah, don't you see that big cold front over there?" said Marshall, pointing at the distance."

"If you don't want to get left behind again, you'd better wake up earlier." said Bernie.

I got up from my branch, but I lost balance and fell down. That sure woke me up. Fortunately, I was a few meters away from Marshall's 'business'. Uncle Fungus saw me fell down, and saw the gunk Marshall left behind.

"Dang it Marshall! I told you not poop anywhere near this tree!" Uncle Fungus shouted.

"Awww common Unc! We're going to leave this place anyways!" replied Marshall.

"That attitude of yours is going to slow us down, you know that!" yelled out Uncle Fungus.

"Your ol' limping _body's_ going to slow us down" whispered Marshall to himself.

"I heard that!"

"Oh, whatever!"

Those two were always like that. I rubbed off the dirt on my body and looked around. The other animals were getting prepared too like some dung beetles getting some crap of their hole, but some weren't really all into the spirit of it. In fact, some of the kids were still playing.

_I was actually surprised I didn't wake up from all that commotion that easily. After all, I'm a sound sleeper._

_Yeah, right…._

I went back to the tree to see everyone getting down as well. "Come on, guys. Let's get some breakfast", said Uncle Fungus. We head towards the forest where lots of trees were growing.

"I want some pine!", shouted Bernie out loud.

"You _always_ want pine." said Marshall teasingly.

"Shut up Marshall."Bernie's short red hair suddenly flared up.

"Guys guys don't fight!" I said behind them, but they didn't seem to pay any attention.

"I want some birch leaves" said Zack, flexing his muscles. "They're really healthy"

"I want to try some maple, if there are some" said Marshall.

"I'm going to get berries!" I exclaimed, but again, they paid no attention whatsoever. I sighed, and just followed behind silently.

In a few minutes we reached the forest. There really were a lot of tree there, leaves of which were good to eat. And we weren't the only animals eating there, nor were we the only sloths. Lots of 'vegetarians' like us were scavenging around being picky about what to eat. I just stumbled on a nearby blueberry bush and ate there.

_Yeah… that was really like you._

The others went up to the tree tops to get some leaves. I didn't want to get left out, so went up with them. But… let's just say I'm not as 'athletic' as they were. I was out of breath by the time I reached halfway up. I took a break on a nearby branch. I looked up to see the others happily eating the leaves they wanted to eat. I lay down on the branch to rest for a bit, but the moment I did, I fell down. Thankfully, I hit some more branches and giant leaves that broke my fall.

After that, I just gave up on the idea of going up and went back to bushes and ate whatever berries I could find.

_It really wasn't that bad, although I was a bit jealous of the others, being up in the trees and all._

_Maybe if you stopped eating berries that much, you wouldn't be so 'plump'._

_Ugh, it's called advanced metabolism._

_Shame… and you're even a __**tree**__ sloth._

_Okay, whatever, so moving on-_

We spent the entire afternoon in the forest. The moment the sun started breaking down, they started going down as well, sliding one after the other. After they all landed, I came up and greeted them.

"Oh, you were here all along Sid?" asked Uncle Fungus. "I thought you were up there with us... oh well!"

"Man! That was fun!" said Marshall.

"I wish there'd be a forest like this to wherever we're migrating to" said Zack.

"Yeah!" said Bernie, as they all passed by me, as if I didn't see me at all.

"So g-guys! How was… it…" I wanted to ask them how it was, but I already saw them walking far away. Again, I just followed behind them silently.

By the time I reached the tree, everyone else was up there, saying goodnight. I waited to see if they'd remember me, but they didn't mention my name even once. After that, I felt glum, and took a walk to nearby pond.

I got over there to wash up. _And yes Diego, I did._ I splashed my face with some water and washed my hands. I dazed over it, watching it ripple with the moon's reflection on it. After it settled down, I saw my reflection on the water, and went into deep thought. "What's wrong with me…"

I got up from self pity, and decided to go back to our old tree. I got up as sneakily as I could, and thankfully I did. Before dozing off to sleep, I thought about just running away somewhere else. I wondered if my life would be any better other than being here like I'm not.

The next morning my wish was granted. I woke up from the rumbling of feet on the ground. The tree kept shaking and I almost fell off before I held on to the branch. "H-hey, I'm up, I'm up!" I did my best to get up on the branch, trying not to fall. After getting up, I thought about waking up everyone else.

"Hey rise and shine everybody!" I shouted out.

"Huh? Zack?" I looked to see where Zack was sleeping, but he wasn't there. I checked to see the others. "Marshall? Bernie? Uncle Fungus? Where is everybody?!" I slid down from the tree. "Come on guys! We're gonna miss the mi- the mi- the mi…gration…" Crickets were the only thing I could hear.

_It didn't really take a while for me to realize they left without me, again. _

"They left without me… they do this every year!" I suddenly felt the fear of being all alone. The feeling of being lonely and shattered. "Why?!" My eyes started to well up tears.

"Doesn't anyone love me? Doesn't anyone _care_ about Sid the sloth?" I told this to someone approaching, but he just hurried it up on leaving.

"Alright, I'll just go by myself." I was about to go to the migration by myself, again, when I accidentally stepped on some crap on the ground. "Ohhh…. Sick!

I shouted at the person who left it there. That was disgusting! I tried to rub it off the ground. It was all over my feet. I was going all "Ooooh yuck!" What a nice way to start my day.

Thankfully, there was a bunch of leaves on the ground where I wiped it off there. There I met some rhinos. I went all rampant trying to get that gunk out of my feet.

"This has definitely been my day, I mean, you know what I'm saying, buddy?" I tried to start a conversation with one of them. "Oh, and what a mess! Hey you know you rhinos you have _really_ tiny brains, did you know that? You know it's just a fact… no offense. But you probably don't even know what I'm talking about."

I laughed at them until I noticed a tiny small flower on the ground with the corner of my eye. "Oh! Yum-o! A dandelion! Must be the last one of the season!" I said and ate the flower, savoring its delicious flavor. "Mmmmm. Mmm! Mm!"

"Carl…"

"Easy… Frank…"

"He ruined our salad." That was where I realized I just ruined their lunch. Whoops!

I turned around to apologize. "Oh, my mistake, that was my mistake. I mean I mean let me let me make it- oh!" a tripped back on a log on the ground. I see them still approaching and I crawled backwards still pleading. "No no seriously let me take care of this-" I jabbered onwards until I tried sneaking my way out with their tiny brains. "Oh look! _Pine_ cones! Oh my goodness, they're my favorite!"

I gnashed the pine cones with my teeth and tried to _look_ like I was enjoying it. "Mmm… Delicious" I tried to keep eating it to see if they might change their minds. "Oh that's ummm…" I kept on trying to crunch it with my teeth, which by the way, wasn't that easy. Afterwards I desperately swallowed it. "Ughh- good eating!"

"But don't let me hog them all up, oh no!" I instantly placed a pine cone into one of the rhino's mouth and lifted his jaw up and down. "Tasty isn't it?" I could see he was getting even more angrier.

"Bon Appetite!" I just ran for it as fast as I could, realizing that was a stupid idea. I heard the rhinos behind me running towards me. I looked behind and screamed, until that is, I stumbled upon Manny here, and yes, the rest is history.

* * *

"That was by far one of the most sad and pitiful story I've ever heard." said Ryan.

"Oh, come on! I was trying to get_ constructive_ with them" said Sid.

"Actually, no, that wasn't what I meant. What I meant to say was-"

"What he meant to say was that maybe you should be careful next time you wipe dirt off on someone else's lunch." interrupted Manny. He was trying to avoid bringing up the subject any more as it was depressing. Sid had been through a lot as well, and at least now they understood him a bit more.

"Yeah, well… things were worse back at my old family. There they didn't even care to notice me. At least here… I've got you guys."

Everyone smiled and comforted Sid. "It's okay Sid, we're _your_ family now." said Peaches, making him a bit happier. Sid smiled, and among so many people around him that love him and care for him, he wished he could keep smiling forever.

Crash and Eddie were planning on a nasty prank on him, but thought about it and changed their minds since right now wasn't the perfect time to do it.

Diego stood up from his spot. Diana watched him as he breathe in and breathe out. He then started moving forward.

"Well then- I guess that means it's my turn." said Diego, nearing the campfire. He paused for a moment to collect himself, stared at the warm glow of the fire, and brought it all out.

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**Xion the Author: The names Zack, Marshall, Bernie, and Uncle Fungus were mentioned in the first movie. These were the names Sid shouted at the tree if you were wondering. Good thing I have a copy of the movie. ^ . ^ Again, I merged Sid's past with the present in Ice Age 1. Tell me how I did with Sid's past. I haven't really seen any story about it, or containing it. Nothing much is given about Sid's old life in the whole movie (except the part where they leave him during the migration every year) so it was a real challenge.**

**Buck: Bah! A good challenge is always fun!**

**Xion the Author: Couldn't have said any better (literally)! Next chapter will be about Diego. My mind right now is calculating it to be a long chapter, since (spoiler alert) I'll probably be starting from where he got lost from his mom and sister (again, I implore you to read my first story to be able to relate even if I'll do my best to make sure you can understand it without you needing to read).**

**Barret: And remember the law of equality. For reading his story, you must review it. **

**Xion the Author: LOL Just kidding, but seriously though, review please!!!  
**


	3. Diego I: On My Own

**Xion the Author: I DO NOT OWN ICE AGE, or the CHARACTERS, just my OCs. Tell me how I did with this chapter pls.  
**

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_**Diego 1: On My Own**_

_You guys probably know about this part already, but I'm just gonna start here. _

It was spring. My mother took me and Diana to this forest. There were plants there everywhere. I remembered there wasn't much snow there, and there were birds and flowers and trees and pretty much every plant you could think of, other than those of course in the Jungle of Misery back in Dinoland. We were planning on learning how to 'hunt' that day in the afternoon. I looked forward to this day since birth, literally. We were fishing near the water, playing around, having a great time! Until of course, the accident…

Diana slipped into the river, and she was carried downwards by the current. My mother followed downstream to save her. She told me to stay put… to stay there till she comes back but… well… you know the details…

I sat there for hours on end, till I couldn't wait anymore. I ended up trying to look for them myself. Thought I could do it, but I got lost along the way. It was getting dark. That 'beautiful' forest, suddenly turned into a nightmare. As a cub, I got scared. I ran around in different directions, not knowing where to go, or _where_ I was going.

And when I thought couldn't get any worse, it started to rain. I remembered mom telling us if it ever rained, we go look for shelter. Half of me, wanted to go look for them, but then I decided to go look for shelter, and wait for them to come.

I found a cave a few meters away, thankfully. I sat the storm out there. It was cold, and I was soaking wet. I sneezed and shivered, and my voice echoed around in the cave, making it apparent for anything that lived there its presence. Fortunately, nothing else was in there. I felt exhausted. Before I realized it, I fell asleep.

That night I dreamed about everything. Every last moment I spent together with my mother. Everything, up until the last thing she told me at the river…

I woke up to see a face looking right at me. I jolted up surprised, walked backwards and ended stumbling my butt on the ground just the same.

"Haha! You're funny!"

A saw right in front of me was a small bear cub, just around my age. "Uh…" I didn't even know what to say at that moment.

"Hi! What's your name" the bear cub said as he made his way near me.

"Ummm… Diego… and you are?"

"Oh! My name Edwin. Call me Ed!"

"Err… nice to meet you." I uttered.

"Nice to meet you too!" He shook my paw with his, didn't really know what that meant. "Where are your folks?"

"T-they're…. gone…" I said.

"What do you mean by that?" he asked. I explained to him everything, from beginning to end.

"So you're lost too!" he exclaimed. "My folks are gone too. They died."

This was by far turning out to be the most awkward conversations in my life. I didn't really know what to say there. And instead of saying sorry, I ended up saying, "H-how?"

"Ahhhh some hunters killed them. Crushing really, but I didn't really let that stop me from having the time of my life!" he answered. "I hunt my own food, I get to sleep in a cave all on my own, which by the way is the one we're sitting in right now, I get to pee anywhere I want without anyone stopping me!"

"And you're okay with that? I mean, don't you miss them?" I continued to ask, not knowing how rude the conversation probably was until now.

He shrugged. "Yeah, I cry about it bit often before, but I got over it. Besides, you can't cry like that all the time. You have to know you need to take care of yourself"

I was about to ask another one of my _none of your business_ questions when my stomach started growling. I remembered I didn't for hours now.

"Haha! I can tell that you're hungry! Come on! I'll take you to the river. They've got lots of fish there."

The river. That's when I remembered that I had to stay put there. Mom might be back there, together with sis. I happily obliged and went with him towards the river.

A few short meters away I remembered some of the greenery there. I couldn't help myself but run into the thick bushes, hoping that my mother was beyond it. But the moment I saw my way out of the bushes, I saw water. Only water. Where was the spot I used to sit at? Where's the river bank? I would've been taken downstream if it hadn't been for Ed grabbing me just in time.

"What are you doin'!" he shouted at me. I was in a daze at the moment. I shook my head to snap out of my deep trance. "There was a storm last night, remember?! The river's gone high tide here. We have to get up higher if we want to catch some fish."

I still felt a tiny bit of hope. I started running the opposite direction we were going.

"Hey!" Edwin said. "Where are you goin' now?!" He followed a short while afterwards.

She could still be there. She could still be there. I said to myself. I ran towards a cliff. Thankfully, I was able to stop myself from going any further than that. I looked at the river to see a big waterfall.

"Fall down that, and you'll never see the light of day again." Edwin said behind me. I stood there, shattered, as if all hope was lost. If my mother followed my sister into the river to save her, what if they all fell down here?

It took a while before I realized I was on my own there. "Come on, let's go" Edwin said. He then took me to another river, just across it. We had to jump along the rocks where the water didn't reach that high. We finally reached the other river he talked about. The river was blocked by a beaver dam, which was really useful for us in hunting fish.

"The water here is fine, except during rain storms. The fish aren't that many, but at least here you could be in the water without getting carried downstream." Edwin told me as he went into the near-shallow water. "Come on! The fish is over here."

"Uhh... actually… I prefer catching some over here, near land." I cowered. I realized now that my fear of water started here.

"Suit yourself. The fish are better over here." Although he obviously ate more than me, I was able to catch a few near the river bank. At least I got to eat. After a few hours of just eating and talking, Edwin got up from the river. The lower portion of his body was soaking wet. He shook his body vigorously, shaking the water off his fur. I kept my distance as far as I possibly could from the splashes of water.

"So… what now?" I asked. "What else do you do? Other than just eating."

"Well, actually… that's just about it. We could… play, if you want."

I did. I wanted to at least enjoy myself, other than just sulking around grieving about my parents. From that day on, we were like brothers. We looked out for each other, sharing food often times, we slept in that cave he claimed to be his, and we told each other stories that passed the time when it was raining.

_One day though, that little paradise that I spent some of my days at would inevitably end._

Edwin and I were playing around like the little cubs we were. It felt the same like every day we've spent together, just living the way we want to.

I heard a small rumbling from the distance. "Hey Ed" I said.

"What is it Diego?" he asked.

"You hear something?" I asked him.

"No, why?"

The rumbling continued however. I kept listening attentively before it suddenly grew louder and louder. Edwin finally noticed the sound. We soon realized that rumbling was cause by a stampede, and it was coming towards us.

We started running. Out of panic, we just ran opposite of its direction instead of just running sidewards and avoiding it. The stampede was catching up on us. We screamed as we ran for our lives. We then saw a small trench in front of us. Just our luck. From the looks of it, there was no way we could jump over it. We looked back to see the stamped right behind us. I sprinted as fast I could, and I planned on jumping over the trench since right now it seemed like the only thing we could do left. Edwin realized what I was probably about to do, cause what he did afterwards was something I could never forget.

He pushed to the, completely away from stampede, tackling me with his entire body. I rolled on the ground a bit. I looked back at the stampede and shouted his name. After a few moments, the stampede had finally passed. I checked around to see if he was still alive. I shouted out his name a couple of times before getting tired. I searched for hours, like I've been in this situation before, and I have. That agonizing feeling of losing someone important to you. I then had to wake up and realize it again.

_I was again, alone._

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**Xion the Author: The appearance of an OC is uncalled for, but I felt like I needed something to open Diego's eyes or something, and Edwin gave the answer. The part two will follow in a few hours maybe but anyways, hope you enjoyed part one.** ^ ^


	4. Diego II: The Pack

**Xion the Author: The grand continuation! Sorry for the delay… hope you enjoy!**

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_**Diego II: The Pack**_

Rain. It started to rain, again. I went back to the cave soaking wet, again. I sat there waiting, again. This feeling started to overwhelm me. The bitterness of being alone, waiting for no one.

I heard a huge crashing sound, a bit similar to the stampede, but it was different.

The following morning I went back to the river to eat. But to my demise, the dam was broken, which could have explained the crashing sounds last night. The current was now flowing rapidly here as well. This cut me off from my main food source. I couldn't believe it. How was I going to survive now? My fear of water consumed me, and even if I faced it, I'd only be carried down by it.

I holed up myself in that cave. I sat there, dazed off into space, still trying to completely take in everything that's happened.

A few days have passed, I've started getting hungry. My instincts were starting to tell me to 'hunt'. But how? I didn't know how to hunt, even a little bit. I've depended myself on my mother, and fishing. Other than that, I couldn't imagine myself hunting.

Blood thirst was now consuming me. I wanted to eat. My instincts enhanced my senses, making me smell every scent of flesh and blood nearby. My body began to move by itself. It felt like I've completely lost my consciousness. I crawled out of that cave without even knowing it. I prowled on the ground, sneaking up on the new found prey my enhanced senses had led me to. I silently approached the rabbit from behind. My fangs, just aching to take a bite. My claws, just ready to rip it into shreds.

By the time I 'regained' my consciousness, my fangs and claws were coated in blood, my mouth devouring a heap of flesh, and a bloody carcass laid on the ground. I killed my first prey. And it felt - glorious!

From then on, I hunted my prey. As I grew in size, so did my prey. It moved from rabbits to antelopes. At times, I'd prey on the children of unfortunate adults, leaving their children alone was too stupid for them. I felt like I could finally live. But somehow, I only survived, but not lived. I couldn't understand it at that time. How could I not_ live_? I'm alive, aren't I? The answer to that question came to me on one particular day.

I was stalking another prey. Another deer. Just like every time, I knew what to do. Sneak up as close as possible. Not let a shade of doubt or hesitation block you. Let the need of it completely consume you. And then, leap up, and strike. But this time, there was something wrong. I felt another presence other than my prey. I felt like I needed to be cautious. But in the end, I just sprang myself on the deer, took a big bite on the neck, let it suffocate by itself, and started eating.

As I ate on my prey, the presence finally started showing itself. I growled at it, claiming the prey as mine. But that was until I finally saw it's face. A saber. A female saber. And it looked weak, hungry. If it were any other saber, I may not have shared it with her. But one look at her face, made me fall for her. Her face made an impression asking me if I could share. I gave a gesture saying "yes" and took a few steps backwards. She approached slowly, yet somehow, gracefully. We ate the deer together. I ate less than her intentionally so she could eat more. But I got more distracted than generous. I couldn't stop looking at her.

We finally finished eating. She rubbed the wet blood off her mouth, watching her as she did it. Her eyes looked a little bit more happy, which, in turn, made me a bit happier as well.

"What's your name?" I asked.

"L-Laurice" she answered shyly.

_"Laurice, huh?" I thought. "What a cute name"_

"Where are you from?"

"My pack. Right now, we're just hunting food for ourselves. I couldn't get a bite from last time's hunt, so I'm making up for it now. Thanks, by the way." she said. Her blue eyes got me in a daze. This was the first time I felt like this."What about you? Where's your pack?

"Uhhh... Y-you're welcome" I said. Come to think of it, this was my first ordinary conversation for a long time. "Actually, I don't have one. Just, me."

"Oh... well, you know..." Laurice said. "I should probably get back to my pack. You could... come with me... if you want."

I accepted. I was about to meet more sabers other than my family, which I've already accepted as dead. She led me up into a mountain. We walked along the mountain path, she walking in front of me. I couldn't help but glance at her but. Well, maybe not glance... stare. I guess you could say I kept staring at her but. It was right in front of me so I couldn't help it. I didn't know if she noticed it or not, since every time she looked back I looked at her face and when she looked forward again, I went back to pervert mode.

We ended up into a large cave, large enough to occupy the entire pack. There were a lot of sabers around. I opened my eyes to the pack, and diverted my attention from her but.

"We're here." Laurice said.

"Wow. This is my first _ever_ seeing a pack of sabers. Half my life I've been out all alone" I said. She fell silent from what I said, probably wondering whatever happened to me.

She made her way to a saber who appeared as the alpha to me. All the other sabers were just staring at me, since I was an outsider.

"Hello, Laurice" the 'alpha' said. "Hope you ate enough. Now, who's this fellow you brought?"

"He shared with me his prey" said Laurice as she stood beside him. "He's- ummmm... I'm sorry... I didn't catch your name before."

"It's Diego." I said. I saw them beside each other, like they were together. What a downer, I felt.

"Hmmmm...." the 'alpha' said. He walked around me, sort-of 'inspecting' me. He went back to sitting beside Laurice and said, "Alright, for what you did to my sister, you can stay. But if you ever cause any trouble, I'll make sure to end you." He then left off talking with the other sabers.

"Who was that?" I asked Laurice.

"His name's Soto. He's the alpha, if you haven't guessed." she answered. "He may be a bit _bossy _at times-"

"I heard that" Soto said in a distance.

"-but he's a good brother. The best one I've ever had."

"You have any other brothers?" I asked.

"No, just him." she said.

"Brother... huh?" I said to myself.

From that day on, I joined their pack. I got to know most of the sabers there. In particular, there was Zeke, a fidgeting little saber, who looked like he was insane. But his blood thirst for meat was greater than all of us. Oscar, who was a silent person, was more eat than talk. If he ever talked, it would be either an insult/joke, or it was something important. And Lenny, a fat tiger, was always hungry. He always complained about not being able to eat enough, but judging from his appearance, he ate the most. But most of all, Soto, the alpha, controlled the pack decisions and held leadership among everyone.

And Laurice.... ahhh.... she was so beautiful. Her eyes were dazzling. I seldom hit my head on a tree or rock just staring at her. Her every movement was graceful, from what I could see. I wondered what kind of feeling this was. It was… different… from everything else. Could it have been… love? I looked at her again, this time she noticed, and smiled back. A rush of warm blood went into my head, making me blush. And that was it, she was my first love.

_But in the end… I was never able to admit my feelings to her…_

The day had finally come. The day I would tell her how I felt. I was walking back to the mountain after hunting. I was thinking more about my approach about it, but the occasional fear of what her reaction would be kept me frustrated. What would I do if she rejects? What if all the other sabers laughed at me? I banged my head on a nearby tree. "Focus Diego, focus!" I said to myself. "Think more about what to say. Think more about what to do, other than what happens after that, even if it means embarrassing yourself in front of the pack…." I once again banged my head on the tree, harder. "Damn it…."

However… my frustration was left aside as I saw a band of humans attacking the pack up in the mountain. I ran up there as fast as I could. Humans were holding their spears against us. I managed to tumble a few humans down the mountain on my way there, but by the time I was there, it was too late. Me and the other sabers were able to drive off all the other humans, but the casualties were horrible. Almost half the pack was wiped out. All that was left of us were me, Soto, Oscar, Lenny, and Zeke.

I saw Soto sitting silently on the ground. Beside him, was Laurice, lying on the floor with a heavy wound. I made my there, to see her barely alive. Soto left as I made it there.

"Move out!" he shouted out to the others.

I held Laurice's paw. I wanted to say something, but tears were running down my face. For a very long time, I cried.

"D-Diego…." Laurice said. "Come closer"

"What is it?" I asked her, holding her paw close to me and neared my head to hers.

"Take care… of… my… brother…" she whispered. "Please… even if it means… stopping himself… from doing… anything…"

I kept crying, and all I could do was nod. She smiled, for the very last time.

And with her last breath, she was only able to utter the words, "I… love-" She wasn't able to finish. I shouted out her name out over and over.

* * *

"After that, we left. More humans would come back and take what's dead. Like Manny, I wanted to go back there and slaughter them. But I realized something more important to me, and it was fulfilling Laurice's dying wish. To look after Soto. But even after plotting our revenge on them, I didn't stop him. I wanted to exact my revenge on the humans as well. The rest after that, you all know what happens. I met Manny and Sid while attempting to steal the baby." Diego finished his story. Again, a dead silence enthralled the entire camp. "And I could never fulfill Laurice's wishes now…"

"You did, you know" Manny said, making Diego look at him.

"Together, we got the baby back to its herd! Remember?!" said Sid happily.

"Yeah, but how exactly is that Laurice's dying wish?" Diego asked.

"You stopped that Soto guy from himself, remember?"said Manny.

"But that doesn't count cause you were the one who killed him" replied Diego.

"But if it weren't for you, I wouldn't be here. Remember, you were the one who stopped him from attacking me." said Manny

"You've done a lot of brave things, you know that." said Diana. "Most of which are selfless."

Diego smiled. He was glad he told this story. He never would've realized this by himself.

"What is it with you guys and your sob stories? I thought it was _us_ girls who tell the sad ones, and you guys would be the ones telling stories about outrageous things." asked Ellie. "Just leave the fun ones to me then"

"Oh, this'll be good." said Crash sarcastically.

"Yeah, right." said Eddie sarcastically as well, making Ellie hit them in the head with her trunk, and on went her story.

* * *

**Xion the Author: You're probably wondering why Diego has a longer chapter than the others. That's 'cause he's my favorite of the three! (But Buck is my all around favorite). I feel kinda bad though, writing a long chapter about Diego and only short ones for Manny and Sid. **

**Diego: That's okay, for me, that is.**

**Manny: …**

**Sid: hurrrr....**

**Xion the Author: Oh well! I'm looking forward for the next update! (Wait, why am **_**I**_** the one looking forward?) Again, Diana, she is Diego's sister. I repeated some words from my first story if you have read it. Seriously, read it. Also, please review how I did.**


	5. Ellie: It's not easy being a Possum

**Xion the Author: Ugh… it definitely was a challenge. A story about Ellie's past? Grr… I keep grind my teeth thinking about it.**

* * *

_**Ellie: It's not easy being a Possum**_

_Ok, I've pretty much forgotten everything past my possum childhood, so here's how the story will go. _

Our step-mother Cassandra was teaching us our first steps of _survival_. I followed behind her, while Crash and Eddie were still clinging on their mother's pouch.

_Hey! You're not supposed to talk about that!_

_Oh, shush! It's not a big deal! You were both little babies then anyways!_

"Okay, Ellie." said Cassandra. "Today, we're going to teach you how to survive. First lesson is- gah!!!" Before she could finish, she saw a hawk flying over them and instantly laid on the ground.

I looked at her, wondering what she was doing. "Ellie!" she whispered somewhat loudly. "Play. Dead."

"What?" I asked her.

"Lay on the ground and pretend you're not alive." she whispered.

"Oh, OK" I then whispered to her back and laid on the ground doing so. After a few minutes, she looked up to see that the hawk was gone.

"Alright, it's gone!" she said, telling me to get up as well. "That's what you do when you see a predator. You lay down, and play dead."

"What's a pri-day-tour" I asked.

"A Pre-da-tor. They're bad animals that want to _eat_ you alive!" she exclaimed, trying to scare me, but I wasn't.

"Why should we play dead?" I continued to ask. She slapped her forehead, hard.

"So they'd lose interest!" she answered. "Now, come on, we still got a lot to do." She taught me more things like hanging from a tree, girl stuff, you know, things a mother would teach her daughter if she ever had one.

_A few years later, when I've grown about half my size today and the boys were finally out of our mother's pouch._

_Hey!_

_I once tried hanging down from our tree, but I broke it so we had to move out to a new one. We moved into this huge tree where lots of us possums lived in. They were very welcoming, but I had to stay down on near the tree roots since I was getting a lot heavier, and they didn't want me to topple it down. We were just having another ordinary day until…_

"Hawks! Haaaaaaawks!!!" A neighbor possum shouted. "Die for your lives!!!"

A few hawks started diving towards us. We all sprang up on our backs and laid down on the ground. Some of us, who weren't fast enough though, didn't make it.

There were a few casualties, but life like this was normal here. It was pretty casual for fellow possums to get taken away all of a sudden. Fortunately, none in our family was missing.

"Those hawks keep annoying us more and more" said Cassandra. "If this continues, there'll be nothing left of us!"

"Why won't they just leave us alone…" I said agreeing with her. She sighed, and went up the tree asking everyone who went missing.

"Hey, Ellie!" shouted a peculiar voice at me from behind. It was Crash, and beside him scurrying along was Eddie. It took me a while before I could tell their voices apart. They both looked frantic. "Glad your safe. Where's mom? Is she safe?"

"Yeah, she just went up the tree to check on everyone else." I answered.

"Oh… phew… you see, for a while there, _Eddie_ thought you got carried off-" said Crash before getting interrupted.

"What?! Me?!! You're the one who got all worried!" shouted Eddie.

"Oh, shut up!"

"You shut up!"

The twins started choking and wrestling each other on the ground in front of me. I looked at them wondering what has gotten into these boys.

"Well, at least nobody _we_ know got lost." said Cassandra as she went down from the tree. "Boys, stop fighting this instant." She said meaning it, losing her temper.

"But he started it!"

"No you started it!"

"Just stop, okay!!!" Mother shouted and they both stopped and stood up from the ground. "Ellie, take your brothers out in the forest to get some berries for dinner. You take care of yourselves now, I don't want any of you doing anything stupid."

_My mother and my brothers were by far the only opossums who didn't care what I was or what I looked like. The other possums thought it was crazy for me to be a possum, considering my largeness._

"Hmmm... I wonder why none of the male possums want to date me." I said. "Am I ugly? Eddie, am I ugly?"

We were walking in the forest to get the berries mom told us to get. "Uhhh…" answered Eddie. "No, umm, well, not much, but-"

Crash punched him hard on his shoulder. "You insensitive freak!" he whispered at him. "Let me handle this."

"You're gorgeous!" he suddenly sprang up saying to me.

"Really?" I said.

"Yeah! Beautiful like a dozen of rosebushes in full bloom" then said Eddie.

"Awww…. That's so sweet! But why aren't any of the possum flirting me or anything?" I asked.

"Oh, well, that's… umm… well… it's their loss sis." Crash answered. "There's no better other better looking possum than you."

"Ok, now you're just lying to me to make me feel better." I said.

"Um, is that good?" asked Eddie. I rolled my eyes around and realized that we've reached the berry patch.

_As time passed by, life started getting complicated. More and more possums started saying that I took up too much space as I grew older. Finally, the time came._

"Eagles! Eagles are attacking!!!" Shouted out a random possum.

"Quick! Hide!!!!" Shouted another random possum.

Everyone was hiding inside the tree, but me. I had nowhere to run to, or nowhere to hide. As the eagle started coming closer and closer, I started panicking. Then I remembered what to do. I pretended to stop breathing and fell down on the ground. There I lay silent and immobile.

I didn't realize, however, that when I fell down, the ground shook and a lot of the possums fell off from the tree. The eagles all made a deafening yell and started plunging down on the fallen possums. They all started running up the tree or into the bushes. Although playing dead was a bad idea now, some of them took their chances, but of most of those possums were made lunch anyways.

A few minutes later, the carnage had finished. The eagles left, and only a few of us possums were left.

"That mangy daughter- errr whatever- put as all in danger!" said the old possum.

"Please, she didn't mean any harm." pleaded my mother.

"It's true!" Another possum said. "If it hadn't been for her, none of us would've fallen off the tree!"

"Yeah!" the others shouted.

"She was just trying not to get attacked by them."

"Hah! You think those birds would attack _her?!_ The way I look at it, she's not even worth calling a possum-" Just before the old possum was about to end what he was saying, Cassandra slapped him.

"How dare you!" she leered at him.

"No mom, it's okay." I interrupted. She looked at me, shifting her angry face into a somewhat confused state. "I should go."

"No, no no no, you don't have to-"

I cut her off. I didn't want to listen to her, not now. "I have to. They're right. I am starting to become a nuisance."

My mother seemed like she wanted to try and stop me from the look on her face. But then she breathed in, and she calmed down. "Is this what you really want?"

I looked at her, and nodded. She smiled. "I want to go with you, but you've already grown up." She said.

"That's okay, sis!" Crash said with Eddie following behind him.

"We're coming with you!" Eddie said as the twins crawled up on top of my head.

"Are you guys sure about that?" I asked them. "We may never come home ever again."

"Ahhh, no worries! We'll look after ya'!" said Eddie proudly.

"Besides, we're possums, remember?" said Crash, and made me smile. I was glad to have brothers like these, even if we aren't biologically connected.

With that, we took off. We started living anywhere, eating anything, living the dream. Although my brothers got off into a lot of trouble all the time, I never complained. Because whenever I got in trouble, they'd come and help.

* * *

"And so, after a few months, this vulture starts saying the world going to get flooded. We didn't believe him at first, but then all the tell-tale signs started showing, and from the looks of everyone moving out, we decided to go out to. Then, shortly after while, we met Manny."

"So that's how you met daddy?" asked Peaches, all bundled up with joy.

"That's right little princess!" said Manny. "I met her as a possum, but then I was able to convince her she was a mammoth."

"Cool" said Peaches.

"Nothing cool about it." said Diego.

"Gave us a pretty hard time trying to convince she was different too." said Sid.

"US?" Manny asked. "Sid, from what I recall, I was the _only_ one who tried convincing her."

"Hey, I helped too you know." replied Sid.

Diego then cut in. "It's true. If it weren't for him pestering about it, she may have never known she was a mammoth."

Everyone laughed. At least the sad story telling had at least ended for now. But Ryan was still restless. He got up, and asked her a question. "I still don't get it. How in the world could you think you were a possum?"

Everyone fell silent, especially Ellie. She stood there near the fire, pondering about it.

* * *

There was a blizzard. It was snowing hard. I could barely see anything. I called out into the open, but not a single reply. All I heard was the gushing sound of the snow storm.

I kept calling out. Where are they. Mom. Dad. Where did you go?

It was getting cold. My body was freezing. I slumped down on the cold snow near a tree.

Mom…. Dad…

I looked up, and saw a possum hanging down. Clanging unto her were two little possums.

Mom?

* * *

"That's as far as I can remember…" said Ellie.

Ryan felt sad. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry…"

"It's okay, this is what we're here near this fire right now, remember? To open up?"

He felt similar with Ellie, them being lost a snowstorm, ending up being found by someone else. Although the world looked down on them, it still shone bright, to have strangers suddenly taking care of you. Nia held his paw, and looked at him. Ryan was able to calm down after that, and sat down on the ground.

Buck and Barret only looked at each other. Both was thinking about how hard life was for everyone.

Crash yawned along with Eddie. "Well then!" Crash said. "I guess it's time we told you guys _our _story."

"Bewaaaaaare." said Eddie.

* * *

**Xion the Author: Geeez…. I haven't really thought out everyone's past straight through! That's why I got caught up with updating cause I was thinking about a good (maybe not perfect, but as long as it's great) chapter. Well, at least I thought about something for the twins as well. I'll try to get the next chapter up ASAP.**

**Nia: Well, at least now he's back up and moving again.**

**Xion the Author: (* _ *)**

**Ryan: ?  
**


	6. Crash & Eddie: Two Trouble Makers Afoot

**Xion the Author: My problem here is that there are two storytellers, which is more confusing if I let it out in the original version, so I made a second draft (yes, I do that) making it less confusing. Sorry for the long update. I've been… uh… preoccupied I guess. Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

_**Crash and Eddie: Two Trouble Makers Afoot. **_

"Okay" said Crash. "Ready, Eddie?"

"Ready" replied Eddie confidently.

"One, two, three!" we shouted in unison, let go of a rope holding a net of berries, and dropped it exactly on a rabbit. The rabbit was a complete mess, red and blue colored berries mixing, sticky fluids hanging on his fur, and it all gave him a pungent rotten smell.

"Oh, ick!!!" said the rabbit. "I just had a bath a while ago!!!"

"Hahahahaha!!!" we laughed together while hiding in the bushes, playing pranks on just about everyone who passes by.

"That was priceless!! Ahahahahaha!!!" said Eddie.

"I- can't- stop- hahahaha- laughin! said Crash. "Hahahahaaaa!"

"Okay okay, it looks like there's someone else coming." said Eddie. "Come on, let's get the next prank over." We hoisted the rope on a banana peeling.

"He's coming! Quick!" said Crash, only seeing the legs of the one passing by though.

They threw the banana peeling towards the path, and the person slipped on fell on the ground. The banana peeling flew into the air and landed on the person's head.

"Ahahahahahaha!" We were laughing so hard we didn't realize who we pulled a prank at.

"Craaaaash!!! Eddiiieee!!!" the person shouted. We suddenly realized that it was our mother who we pulled a prank at, and she was furious. She must've overheard us laughing in the bushes.

"Uh oh… busted!" gulped Crash.

"Run for it!" shouted Eddie. We were about to run away as fast as we could until she grabbed us from behind.

"You guys are in BIG trouble!" scolded Cassandra. She pulled our ears back to the tree. We were shouting in pain, begging her to stop.

"_Life like this was pretty usual." said Crash. _

"_Pull a prank, play dead, pull another prank." said Eddie. "Although it sounds a lot of fun, it kind of…"_

"…_got old"_

We were always at our usual spot, hiding in the bushes near the path where a lot of animals would walk through to get from the home tree to the berry patch. But now we just watched whoever passed by out of boredom. We felt too lazy to even try pulling a prank.

"I'm bored!" shouted Crash. "Is there anything we can actually do besides chores?!"

"We could… pull another prank at Uncle Tweedle." suggested Eddie.

Crash thought about it, and shrugged it off. "Nah, we've done that too many times. I'm actually feeling _pity_ for the guy."

We looked at each other, and laughed it out. "Not!"

"But still…" said Crash. "If this is what life is going to be, I'd rather live it short and happy."

"Amen to that, bro" replied Eddie. We sat on the tree, just looking at the sky. No reason why in particular. We were just completely bored.

"How 'bout we pick on some poor defenseless creature? Whaddya' say?" asked Crash.

"Well… as long as it beats doing nothing."

"_Day after day, we repeated the same thing." said Eddie. "We've gotten bored of our daily routine and would try something new every once in a while"_

"_But even that… didn't help much" said Crash. "Until of course, that happened. It was around our puberty years"_

"_Oh, you went passed that?" asked Diego sarcastically. Everyone laughs and giggles._

"_Whatever!"_

Finally, the day of reckoning came towards us, without even knowing it. The day was hot, really hot, even during the ice age it was hot! We were hiding in the bushes as usual, waiting for some innocent creature to pass by and get wailed at. But today, all the other possums stayed in the home tree, and it looked like most of the rabbits and squirrels and any other woodland creature stayed in wherever they lived.

"I think this was a bad idea" said Crash coarsely. We were lying on the ground. Crash on his back, and Eddie on his chest, peering from the space below the bushes to spy out if anyone would pass by.

"Yeah… I think so… no one's passing by today, and it's freakin' hot!" replied Eddie.

"Maybe we should head back…" said Crash as he got up to leave.

"Hey, hey!" whispered Eddie in a dry voice. "It looks like someone's coming!"

"Who would go out in the middle of the day like us?" asked Crash, crawling up to Eddie. We peeked below the bushes through its roots to see a pair of small legs walking.

We got even more curious. The legs we saw looked like possum feet. We instantly got up and peered through the bush. We saw right in front of us a voluptuous, sexy, hot, bodacious babe! Her eyes were fluttering in the heavens. We dazed at her, staring at every movement. She was like an angel, floating gently in the clouds.

It took us a while before we snapped out of our _trance_. As she started trailing off somewhere else, we followed her through the bushes. We've never seen her from our tree before. And before we knew it, we've followed her towards the berry patch.

We stared at her taking some berries, plucking it from the stems, taking a bite at it, savoring the flavor. Eddie made a binocular using his hands by putting it around his eye and seemed to 'zoom' in. He saw that she would usually close her eyes while she ate the berries, and would wave her arm around in the air to get another. Eddie kept on 'zooming in' by twisting his hands. While she waved her hand around in the air with her eyes closed to get another one of those berries, Eddie saw an unidentified hand reaching out a berry towards her. Eddie gasped. She took the berry unknowingly and continued to eat.

Eddie looked to his side to check if Crash saw what he did. To his surprise, Crash was nowhere to be found. Eddie made a menacing look and approached nearer. He again used his "hand binoculars", and saw that it was Crash all along passing the berries towards the unknown beautiful female possum.

Eddie felt angry, in fact jealous. He snuck up behind Crash while he was reaching for another berry to give to the unknown femme fatale. Eddie then pushed Crash, making him bump into her.

The female possum got startled. Crash tried not to alarm her, and improvised.

"Uh- Well, hello there _mademoiselle_" Crash gestured smoothly, pushing his head hair back and gave her a small bow.

"Urk!" uttered Eddie in the shadow, getting frustrated.

"Oh!" the female possum said. "Well, hello there"

"She greeted back. Okay, positive outcome" Crash thought. "Right… what now…"

"Ummmm…" uttered Crash. "So…. I see you like… berries!"

"What? Oh" said the female possum realizing she still had a half eaten berry in her hands. She then gently placed on the ground. "Well, yes. Actually, I was hungry so I- wait" The female possum stopped. "Did you just say you saw me liking berries? Were you spying on me?!"

Crash froze on the spot. What was he supposed to say? "Uhh… no…?"

They stared at each other for a while. The female possum was staring at Crash intensely, while Crash would usually glance from side to side and then go back to looking at her. "Oh, okay" Eventually, she bought it. Eddie felt relieved. He didn't know why, but he knew it was a good thing.

Crash, now smiling happily, then asked, "So, what's your name?"

"My name's Katy" she said. "What about yours?"

"M-my name's Crash!" he nervously replied. Eddie snapped as he saw his twin brother talking casually with another girl. With the bushes directly behind Crash, and this Katy right in front of him, Eddie grabbed some of Crash's back fur.

Crash was startled to get grabbed at from behind, but he instantly knew what would happen next. "Ummm, excuse me for a while" Crash said before disappearing into the thick bushery behind him.

Eddie pulled his brother towards him. "What. Are. You. Doing?!" he abruptly said.

"Umm… flirting around?" Crash said, throwing his brothers arm from his grasp.

"You're not the only one who wants to score on her." Eddie said persuasively.

"First come, first serve-" Crash said sneering at him

Eddie was about to choke Crash when they heard Katy approaching. "Ummm... Crash? Are you still there?"

"All right, all right, I've got an idea" said Crash. "We'll split places."

"What?!" exclaimed Eddie.

"Shush! Just trust me!" whispered Crash and pushed Eddie towards Katy's direction. Eddie trotted out of balance nearly crashed unto Katy.

"Ummm…. Hi?!" uttered Eddie. Crash slapped his forehead.

"Hello...?" replied Katy. There was again an awkward silence. Eddie tried to think of what to do next. Shortly after doing so, he thought of an idea.

"Ummm would you like to go on a picnic with us- I mean- me?" Eddie said.

"Hmmmm…" Katy stood there thinking. Eddie became more and more nervous. Crash slapped his forehead so hard it turned red. "Of course she'd so no!" Crash whispered to himself in the shadows.

"Okay" Katy replied.

"What!" Crash and Eddie shouted in unison. Eddie got startled after hearing Crash's voice. Crash instantly covered his mouth, knowing that he was heard out loud. He saw Katy looking around, wondering if there was someone else. Eddie noticed it too, and again tried to improvise.

"Oh, um… great!" said Eddie, trying to distract her. "Follow me, I know just the perfect place for a picnic."

"Did you hear something?" asked Katy. "I thought I heard someone else."

"Um- no! Not really, no, there's no one else here, absolutely. Why would anyone else be here right? Hahahaha…." Eddie said nervously, and gently pushed Katy to get moving. And while they headed out on the clearings, Crash followed behind in the shadows.

"_Is this story really going anywhere?" asked Diego._

"_Yeah, it sounds like you were just following some chick around" said Manny._

"_J-just keep listening!" shouted the twins in unison._

Eddie walked along side Katy. He blushed at the thought of it. He and Katy would talk about things like they're favorite color, or they're favorite flavor. And while they were busily talking, Crash was watching behind them, getting jealous by the second. Once he got the chance, he took it. He pulled out Eddie into plants while Katy was busy doing something else.

"Dude!" whispered Crash rampantly. "What are you doing?! Where are you even taking her?!"

"I'm taking her to the frozen pond that has that great view." whispered Eddie.

"Are you nuts?! That's _our _place, remember? No one else goes there but _us!_" whispered Crash even more rampantly.

"Oh come on, dude! You'd do the same thing! Besides, I'm bettin' you only took me here cause you want your turn." Eddie clarified. Crash stood corrected.

"Okay, okay. But first we gotta create a system." said Crash

"Agreed" replied Eddie.

So from then on we'd switch places from time to time. We enjoyed spending every minute with Katy. We talked about a lot of different things while going there. We'd switch places whenever she wasn't looking, pulling the other one out. We'd quarrel for while, but end up switching anyways. We'd try to pull our hair out every time the other possum would make a bold move.

_And it took us a while before we realized that the more we watched from behind, the more jealous we came to be with each other._

We felt like the time passed away real quick. By the time we got to that frozen pond, it was already night. It was Eddie's turn when we reached the pond. He instructed Katy to rest back on the snow for a while cause he had to do something. He went up the tree where Katy rested upon. Instead of Eddie, it was Crash's turn. Crash came down with a fruit in his paws.

"Dinner is served" Crash said smoothly.

"Ooohh! An apple!" exclaimed Katy. At first glance already, she instantly snatched the apple and took a big bite. "Mmmm… juicy!" It was obvious that she liked eating

"Hope you like it!" said Crash cheerfully.

"Mmm… you know *chomp chomp chew swallow* you always sound different" Katy said.

"Ummm… n-no I don't" Crash uttered.

"So… *chop chew swallow* do you come here often?" she asked.

"Oh, well, yeah a couple of times. I usually come here alone-" Just as Crash was about to finish his sentence, Eddie threw an apple on his head. "Ow!"

"We come here together you know that!" Eddie whispered to himself angrily.

"Hahaha! You're funny." Katy giggled. Crash blushed.

"So, what are you doing here, all alone?" asked Crash.

"Huh? Oh, I just leave the home tree for long periods of time. I hate being there, so many stereotypical men trying to get their filthy paws on me." answered Katy glumly.

"Unngghhh…. wrong question…" we both thought.

"What about you?" Katy asked. "Why are _you_ here?"

"Oh, just looking for some… company" Crash said smoothly, making Eddie filled with hate and jealousy. Katy started nearing Crash's face. Crash stared nervously. Was this it? His… first kiss?

Eddie quickly tried to grab for a nearby apple, but then he heard a hissing sound. He saw a snake hanging down on a branch, making Eddie flinch, lose balance and finally fall down.

Eddie fell down between Katy and Crash, startling Katy, making her jump. "Ummm… I can explain."

"Wait" said Katy. "That voice… that look… wait a minute, your twins!"

"Great timing, bro…" sighed Crash, admitting it all in.

"No wonder it was so strange. This entire time… you boys are just like the ones back home! Ugh!!!" she screamed. She threw the apple at Eddie, knocking him down on the snow. She ran off furiously, leaving us there like nothing happened.

Crash sighed. He got up and brushed off the snow on his fur."Look at us, Eddie. We've grown to be hateful to each other…"

"What happened dude…" said Eddie as his brother helped him up as well.

"Alright! From now on, we're bachelors for life! Agreed?" said Crash, handing out his paw.

"Agreed!" exclaimed Eddie, handing out his paw as well, and we made our secret handshake. And from then on we kept to pulling pranks on and on.

* * *

"The end" said Crash.

"Oh yeah, that reminds us!" said Eddie. "The day afterwards was the day we all went off with Ellie."

"Huh, no wonder you boys were missing that day" said Ellie, now remembering.

"That wasn't much of a sad story, wasn't it." said Sid.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with Sid." said Flik. "What was that all about?"

"Oh forget it!" said Eddie.

"That's the best we could do!" complained Crash. "Sorry we don't have any sob-stories for you!"

"I guess I'm up next then!" said Buck. The one-eyed weasel got up from the soft pile of snow he laid on. "Alright, let me tell you 'bout the time I went Stegosaurus hunting, pulling their back spines out, tearing the raw flesh out of 'em!"

Manny and Ellie started covering Peaches' ears with their trunks. "Maybe a _different_ kind of story, Buck. You know, something not rated as PG13." said Manny.

"Alright, alright, good point" said Buck as he saw them covering the young ones' ears. "How 'bout the time I wrestled with a giant Kronosaurus-"

"We've already heard that…" said the twins.

"How about something that speaks of your past" said Ryan.

"Wha'?" asked Buck.

"Yeah, you know, something from your childhood or something." said Nia.

"My… childhood?" said Buck. His little brother, Barret, came up to see if he was okay, knowing just how hard it was for him. "Alright, then. If ya like boring lil' stories, I've got one for ya'"

* * *

**Xion the Author: Yet another troublesome plot. As you can see, I used the 'we/us' instead of 'they/them' to alter it into a first person, but kept the names in third person since there are, after all, two storytellers. I was just experimenting. I'm pretty sure I've violated a lot of writing rules here lol. Please criticize the style I used so I could change it all into third-person. Well, at least now we get to move on to Buck, which is something I also want to get in-depth with.**

**Crash and Eddie: What the- you gave us a love interest?!!**

**Xion the Author: What? It's all in your past anyways. I've read NUMEROUS twinxtwin pairings, and I've never read anything like this happening (referring to this chapter). I just tried to keep it new and refreshing, you know, to keep from getting old and rusty.**


	7. Buck: My Childhood

**Xion the Author: Ok, it's official. Buck's story will be the last chapter! You guys won't probably be able to relate with my OCs' pasts anyways. Sorry for the long update.

* * *

**

**Buck: My Childhood**

_Here they go again._

My parents. Shouting at each other. Throwing anything at each other, from words to objects. They would do this almost every night. My hectic mother, accusing my 'dad' for going off with some other weasel.

_I was so naïve then…_

I was the only one awake, as usual. I slept beside my little siblings, keeping them asleep as much as possible. I didn't want to know about this. And if I had to bear the burden of being the only one knowing about it, so be it. Good thing they were all heavy sleepers.

From what I overheard from their lil' conversation, I always thought my mom was on the winning side. But when my father would mention about us, and she'd stop talking, right then and there. On the spot. My father would then go off to the highest branch on our tree and sleep there.

My mother would then just sit there, crying. I always felt sad for her. I wanted to go there and show a bit of comfort, but I had to keep them from knowing that I could overhear everything.

Some nights I'd have trouble keeping my younger siblings asleep, some nights would be easier.

_I wished everything would changed. It did, but not the way I wanted it to…_

"All right!" I shouted out. "It's mornin' everyone! Time to get up!" I woke up earlier than the rest, like I always did. I tried to pull them up from their deep slumber.

"Ugh… five more minutes" moaned Andy.

"…with berries on top please…" Seth continued to talk in his sleep.

"Can't it wait?" complained Derek.

"Come on, you guys!" shouted Barret. "We gotta get up!" Barret was like a little suck up to me. But he ended up being my favorite of all my siblings. The little white weasel was a lot to handle. He got his white fur from mom, I got my brown fur from pops.

"ugh… fine…" moaned Andy some more.

"Huh? What..?" snapped up Seth, finally waking up

"It's not like we could sleep some more anyways…" Niki complained as she got up.

We were finally able to get out of the tree trunk. We did some finally stretching before I instructed them on what to do.

"Okay guys, listen up." I had everyone huddle up to make sure they could all hear me. "We're going to plan our parents a surprise dinner!"

Everyone started whispering to each other. They were all obviously getting excited.

"Okay, okay. We now that mum and dad and gone most of time during the day. So while they're gone, we'll be picking up some berries and fruits and bring them back home."

"I like that plan!" yelled Barret excitedly.

"Sounds fun." said Kurt

"Beats doing nothing." replied Niki.

"It's a good idea." complimented Derek

"Alright, so here's the deal. If we're gonna do this, we gotta do it right. Andy and Niki, you guys go grab some berries to the west"

Andy and Niki looked at each other with disgust. Although they were the only girls of all us siblings, they never quite got along with each other.

'Fine, but just this once" agreed Andy.

"Ugh… why…" murmured Niki.

"Good. Now, Seth, Kurt and Derek, you guys go picking apples or any big fruit you could find to the east. We gotta find a lot of different fruits for 'em."

Derek shrugged, "Alright, but Seth better not wander off somewhere else like always."

"It's okay" replied Kurt. "I'll keep him in line, right Seth?"

"…" Seth was looking at the sky dazzled. He was pretty much an airhead at most times.

"Good, I'll go with Barret and look for some other fruits north." I continued.

"Yey! Let's make this the best night they'll ever have!" cheered Barret.

"Alright then, let's get moving." We then went off into separate directions. I glanced at Barret to see him skipping around like a maniac.

"Stop movin' around so much." I prompted him. "You'll tire yer'self before we even get there! Remember, we'll need to walk there for a while."

"Sorry, Buck." Barret said. "I'm just really excited about this. You think our parents will like it?"

"Heh, 'course they will!" I said as I grabbed Barret and rubbed his head with my fist.

"Ow! Stop, that hurts!" Barret said as tried to get out of my grasp. After a while, I released him.

Although I called myself the eldest, I was just the first one to come out my mother's womb. Barret was the last to come out.

"So, where are we going to get fruits again?" asked Barret as we walked.

"We're heading fer' Pineapple Forest." I answered briefly.

"Wait, so, that means we have to-"

"Yep. We'll have to go through-" I stopped in midpoint as we have already reached our destination. "-The River of Torment"

River currents rushing down fast in around 2m/s. It was huge compared to our sized. During storms, even full grown trees would get rushed down like toothpicks. Thankfully it was a clear day today.

I hoisted some vine from a nearby tree branch and held it. I then grabbed Barret again and went up the tree.

"Wait, you're not gonna-" jittered Barret.

"Yep!" I shouted in encouragement.

"W-w-w-wa-wa-wai-wait! This is suicide!" shouted Barret.

"Nope!" I exclaimed as I started running down the branch. "This, is ADVENTUUUUUURE!" I jumped high, and we were slinged into the air.

We shouted as we flung into mid air directly above the river. Barret screamed for his life, cowering with his paws covering his eyes. In perfect timing, I let go of the vine. As we started falling down towards the other side, I accidentally lost grip of Barret, making him scream even more.

We bounced unto a soft bunch of mushrooms. Barret still continued to scream with his paws covering his face. I went up to him to calm him down.

"Barret! Barret! It's okay now!" I shouted at him. As it seemed to have no effect, I hit him hard on the head, and he instantly snapped out of it. I finally sighed out of relief.

Barret started putting his paws everywhere around his body. "Legs. Chest. Arms. Head. Fur. *Sigh* still alive."

"You done?" I said as I got him up. We started traversing through the field of mushrooms we found ourselves in.

"Hey, Buck?"

"What is it Bro?" I asked.

"Dad… used to bring us to places like these for no reason before… right?" Barret said.

I paused a bit. "Yeah…"

We finally got out of the field. Compared to our size, those mushrooms were huge. Once we emerged from it, we finally reached our destination.

"We're here!" I shouted. "Pineapple Forest"

"Finally!" Barret shouted out of relief. We walked slowly looking at all the pineapples. The pineapples grew in between the trees, like a little plantation. "Wow… I can see why they call it a forest." Tall pine grew up as far as the eye could see.

I harshly tried to pull the pineapple from its bush. As soon as I plucked it out, I got threw off on the ground. I stood up and shook some dust off my brown fur and inspected the pineapple. "You know, there's somethin' about these fruits that I like so much."

"Do you know what it is?" eagerly asked Barret.

Buck thought for a while. "Errr… they're… attractive…?"

"…okay" All Barret could do was wonder. That was all I could do then too.

"Alright, let's get a move on. Grab the one there and let's go." I said as I gently balanced the pineapple on my head. Barret followed after words and we went back towards the river.

After passing through the thick mushroom once again, we found ourselves back at the River of Torment. "How do we get these pineapples with us across now?" asked Barret.

Immediately I threw the pineapple across the river. It landed safely on the ground. Barret was about to do the same thing before I stopped him.

"Maybe you should leave the throwing to me, lil' bro" I said. I remembered how much he wasn't good with throwing. After giving it a good throw, the second pineapple landed safely across. We then did the same trick we did a while ago, swinging ourselves across once more. This time, Barret didn't scream.

We picked up the pineapple and walked off back home. By the time we got there, it was sunset. Everyone else was waiting for us. Niki and Andy had a bunch of grapes and strawberries with them. They were there arguing which fruit was more delicious. Derek brought along some oranges, Kurt had some peaches behind him so I assumed he brought those. And Seth, well… was staring out in the open as usual. All he had with him was one cherry in his paws.

"Sorry we're late" shouted Barret off in the distance.

"What took you guys so long?" asked Kurt the moment we were near them.

"Sorry again, there was something in our way a little while back–" I said. "-but anyways, now that we're here, listen up." I had them all huddle like we did in the morning.

"All right, since everyone's here, we gotta get ol' tree trunk here nice and clean now." I started instructing once more after putting down the pineapple on my head. "Niki and Andy, I'm pretty sure you hate each other as company, but I'm gonna have to team you up again with sweeping the floor"

"What?" shrieked Niki.

"Ugh, you're so annoying." moaned Andy.

"Shut up, tomboy." argued Niki

"Whatever, geek" returned Andy.

"Stop it, you guys-" Barret tried to convince. But the two girls continued to argue.

I sighed. "Okay… Derek, you're our lookout. If either mom or dad comes, you tell us."

"Roger that." agreed Derek and went up the tree.

"Kurt…. you watch Seth." I said. "Me and Barret will get the food ready."

We had to hurry. The sun was going down, fast. I was throwing the large carefully up in the air as Barret caught them from inside. This way we could save more time. The berries I carried up myself. Derek had his eyes peering from every corner of the woods. We had trouble cleaning up the house since Niki and Andy were fighting again. Maybe tagging the two of them up was a bad idea after all. Good thing Kurt helped in. All Seth was doing was holding a cherry in his hands looking out in the sky, so we probably thought there was no worry.

"By the way, Kurt." I said. "What's with that cherry Seth is holding?"

"I'm not sure myself." Kurt shrugged. "We were picking some berries a while ago, and all he did was pick that one."

I thought about confused. Well, at least he got something.

Not long after, the time had finally arrived.

"Guys guys guys!" shouted Derek. "I see mom coming in!"

"Oh! U-uh quick everyone! Hide! Try to surprise her!" I instructed everyone as fast as I could. I had trouble with having Seth hide. Derek came down from the treetop and started coming in before I stopped him.

"Did you see pops?" I asked him.

"No, just mom. I don't see dad anywhere. " answered Derek.

I paused there for a while before letting him go hide. After checking everyone hiding in every corner of the room, I went off and try to hide myself.

A few minutes later, we started hearing mother coming up. The moment she came in, we leaped out and surprised her.

"Surprise!" We all shouted. I didn't instruct them to do anything like this, but I guess it was just instinct.

"Huh? W-what's going on here?" asked mother.

"It's a surprise dinner Buck planned!" said Barret. He then pointed at the heap of fruits placed inside.

"He planned it for all of us!" said Kurt.

She stood there silently. I thought there was something wrong, but maybe she was just too surprised. "Oh, uh, we all better hide again until dad comes." I said. After saying that, I noticed mother gasp a little. I then started having my suspicions.

We all hid once more in the corners of our little abode. We waited for a few minutes… then a few more minutes… and then an hour. And soon more hours passed by. Most of were getting restless. Seth actually came out and sat down near the tree branch again.

I looked at mother this time. I finally notice how distraught she looked. She looked messed up, like she haven't been sleeping a lot. I finally realized that something was wrong.

"Mum? Mum?" I shook her shoulder when she didn't respond the first time I called her.

"What is it, Bucky?" my mother replied.

"What's wrong?" I asked confidently. I looked at her telling her that I was serious. Tears suddenly started to flow down her cheeks.

"K-kids…. Y-your father *sob* he-he's.. left us… *sob* I'm so sorry… *cries*…" mother said as she trembled down to the floor covering her face. We all stood there, in disbelief.

"H-he's never… coming back?" said Niki.

"T-that's a lie, right? Tell us that's not true mom! …Please…" cried Andy.

"B-but…. But we…" said Barret.

"So… all we tried to do… was for nothing?" I shouted. We all started to cry. Even me. We couldn't help it. We were kids. I looked outside, to see Seth still holding that cherry in his paws. He wasn't crying, but he looked down. I got it now. He was waiting for dad to come, and probably wanted to give that cherry to him.

I tried to hold back the tears. I walked up towards Seth. I had to be a man. . I have to someone right now. I had to be a brother.

I approached Seth, and told him to come in. I wasn't sure whether he heard mom or not. He only sat there for a few more minutes before coming in.

* * *

"Well, in the end, no one ate any of the fruits we gathered. We all weren't in any mood, as you may have known. And well, a few weeks later, I left and found myself where you all found me, Dinoland. And my life had never been the same since." Buck finished, looking at his younger brother sitting idly near the campfire.

Everyone, even Sid, had something to say. But the Peaches and Diana's cubs yawns, broke their focus.

"Well, it's getting pretty late." said Manny as he rubbed Peaches head. "We should probably get some sleep."

"Yeah, well. I guess it was fun while it lasted…" said Buck.

"Hey, we could always tell more of these stories at another time" said Sid.

"Errr… sorry Sid. But these are the only ones we've got." said Diego.

"Awwwww…" moaned Sid. "I've still got plenty of stories. Wanna hear them next time?"

Manny and Diego looked at each other. It was obvious Sid would have a lot of these stories. He was Sid.

"Sure" They both answered and they sat down and tried to get some sleep. Manny sat down along Ellie and Peaces. The possums hanged by a nearby tree branch. Diego sat down near his sister and her cubs. Buck and Barret tried relaxing on the soft white lump of snow. And everyone else had their own spot to sleep at.

Sid smiled. He looked around to see everyone. His home. His family. Was right here. He took a giant leaf and collected some snow. It was heavy, so he toddled around before finally being able to throw it out on the campfire, putting down the flame.

After letting everything out, they finally take in everything good. It was on everyone's faces. The warm smiles everyone had been yearning for. It was on odd night, but it was great.

The soft crackling sound of the campfire as it had been put down gave a relaxing atmosphere in the air.

_Good night._


End file.
